Exploring

A year ago Ashton broke her arm, right above her elbow.

Since it was right by her growth plate, she was sent to see a Pediatric Orthopedist to make sure everything was set and healed properly.  She spent 5 weeks at the end of summer in a cast, and we got to make weekly treks through DC to Walter Reed to see the doctor.

Fun stuff.

Well that kind of put a damper on our summer fun.  After going into the city so much, I just wasn't interested in taking leisure trips to see the sights.  But every week we went to those appointments we passed by a building right off the Mall that had National Aquarium signs all over.

I knew the National Aquarium was in Baltimore, so I kept asking everyone what this aquarium was.

Nobody knew.

Well this summer Cayden started asking if we could go to an aquarium.  We had annual passes in New Orleans and went pretty regularly.  It was always a hit with the kids.

I didn't want to go all the way up to Baltimore, so we gathered up some game friends and went to check out this 'National Aquarium' in DC.

We found out there was a reason no one had knew anything about this one.

It turns out that it is a small branch of the National Aquarium in Baltimore.

And I mean SMALL.

It was one dark room, in the BASEMENT of a building.  There were aquariums lining the walls, representing some of the protected ocean areas in the world.  It took us 30 minutes to see everything.

And there was nothing worth taking a picture of.

So in order to make use of the $20 parking fee we had just paid, we walked a couple of blocks to return to the Natural History Museum.

Yep, for the third time...in a month.

While there we wandered around into areas we hadn't seen yet, and found a hands-on kids discovery room.

The "hands-on" part made the day a success for the kids.

Mason had fun with the magnifying glass, and carted it all over the room.

I even got my turn with it.

Lillian loved the seashells.

Did you know that when you put them to your ear, you can hear the OCEAN?!?

Someone shared that with Lillian and she thought it was the neatest thing.

Definitely worth sharing with her sister!

Ashton experimented with the microscopes and binoculars.

And Cayden?  He colored a Sea Turtle.  Of course.

It's always hard to get the kids to leave somewhere like this.  But by that time, the moms were ready to head on home.

I'm pretty sure we had gotten our $20 worth of parking...

Or maybe you never really do.  At least the museums are free!

But now Cayden's asking to go to a REAL aquarium.

We might have to head up to Baltimore soon...